1994 NY Rangers First Line?

[DirtyGoatee]

I am trying to paint my super chexx players based on the Cup Champion Rangers team, (my wife is a Rangers fan but we are still in debate what was considered the first line that year) who were considered to be the true first line? and top d pairing?

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[Hawkey Town 18]

Pretty sure the top D pairing was Leetch and Beukeboom

 

[Iain Fyffe]

Looking at the GF-GA numbers, Leetch and Zubov played the most among defencemen, by far.

Messier and Graves were clearly two-thirds of the top line. But it looks like the other winger wasn't set. Larmer, Gartner and even Tikkanen are candidates. It's possible there wasn't a set line.

 

[Noonansgoal]

leetch and zubov were the first unit on the pp point. Leetch and Buekeboom were the number one pairing even strength, with zubov and I believe Lowe/Karpetsev the 2nd. Someone correct me if im wrong about the latter.

First line that year was Messier between Graves and Kovalev.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Looking at the GF-GA numbers, Leetch and Zubov played the most among defencemen, by far.

Messier and Graves were clearly two-thirds of the top line. But it looks like the other winger wasn't set. Larmer, Gartner and even Tikkanen are candidates. It's possible there wasn't a set line.

I have memories of the forward lines being shuffled quite a bit.

The other poster has it correct when it comes to Dmen...Leetch-Zubov on the PP, Leetch-Beukeboom at ES

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

from what i remember, at least from the playoffs that year, the usual top line was messier with graves and larmer. excellent two-way line that could score. but when extra offense was needed, for example in the "guaranteed win" game where messier got a hat trick, they would replace larmer with kovalev.

 

[VanIslander]

... the usual top line was messier with graves...

That I recall.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

leetch and zubov were the first unit on the pp point. Leetch and Buekeboom were the number one pairing even strength, with zubov and I believe Lowe/Karpetsev the 2nd. Someone correct me if im wrong about the latter.

First line that year was Messier between Graves and Kovalev.

This is correct, though I think the RW on the line shuffled a lot due to trades. Graves was basically always with Messier (even strength and PP, possibly PK as well) and Leetch and Beukeboom were always together at even strength and the PK.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Looking at the GF-GA numbers, Leetch and Zubov played the most among defencemen, by far.

Messier and Graves were clearly two-thirds of the top line. But it looks like the other winger wasn't set. Larmer, Gartner and even Tikkanen are candidates. It's possible there wasn't a set line.

Does this separate them by situation? Leetch and Zubov were PP partners, and they were devastating together.

 

[Iain Fyffe]

Does this separate them by situation? Leetch and Zubov were PP partners, and they were devastating together.

Yes, I looked at PP and non-PP. It's quite possible that Beukeboom was Leetch's most frequent ES partner, though Zubov probably played more minutes at ES than he did, and Leetch would have been double-shifting at times since he clearly played more ES minutes than Beukeboom per game.

The second pairing was presumably most often Zubov and Lowe.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

Messier played with Graves and Anderson in the playoffs. Kovalev centered Larmer and Tikkanen or Matteau

 

[mrhockey193195]

Anderson was usually the RW for Graves and Mess in the playoffs. There were a couple of notable instances (i.e. game 6 against NJ) where Keenan moved Kovalev up there.

 

[ESH]

strat-hockey.net has the top line as Graves - Messier - Anderson.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Messier played with Graves and Anderson in the playoffs. Kovalev centered Larmer and Tikkanen or Matteau

That sounds accurate.

I think it was Leetch-Zubov on the PP as the top go-to D guys, but I doubt they played together ES.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

The lineup from Game 7 was:

Graves-Messier-Anderson
Matteau-Kovalev-Larmer
Tikkanen-MacTavish-Noonan
Gilbert-Nemchinov-Kypreos

Leetch-Beukeboom
Lowe-Zubov
Wells-Lidster

Richter-Healy

Scratches: Karpovtsev, Kocur, Olczyk (inj.)

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Anderson was usually the RW for Graves and Mess in the playoffs. There were a couple of notable instances (i.e. game 6 against NJ) where Keenan moved Kovalev up there.

it's not scientific, but the large +/- discrepancy suggests that while anderson may have played on the top line for stretches, he likely wasn't the main top line RW for the whole playoff run.

messier +14
graves +12
anderson +5

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Watching video from the Conference Finals against NJ, the Rangers kept Messier and Graves together at all times but their RW's shifted from Anderson to Larmer to Kovalev, which supports what others have said about NY's top line during that year.

 

[Tawnos]

The lineup from Game 7 was:

Graves-Messier-Anderson
Matteau-Kovalev-Larmer
Tikkanen-MacTavish-Noonan
Gilbert-Nemchinov-Kypreos

Leetch-Beukeboom
Lowe-Zubov
Wells-Lidster

Richter-Healy

Scratches: Karpovtsev, Kocur, Olczyk (inj.)

Close. I can't watch the Flash video right now, but Nemchinov centered the 3rd line quite a lot more often than MacTavish. MacTavish or Messier took almost all of the important draws throughout the game though.

it's not scientific, but the large +/- discrepancy suggests that while anderson may have played on the top line for stretches, he likely wasn't the main top line RW for the whole playoff run.

messier +14
graves +12
anderson +5

You're right, it isn't scientific. As evidenced by those of us Rangers fans who are saying that he WAS the top line RW for the playoffs. Larmer didn't spend a ton of time up there, but he spent some. Kovalev was more likely to see 1st line duty when we needed a jolt, but that only happened in the playoffs. Acquiring Matteau in the Amonte trade balanced the wingers somewhat. We watched it and we know. Keenan messed with the lines a lot too. Gartner, Larmer and Amonte split time on that top line's right side before the deadline, but even then I seem to remember more of Gartner and Amonte up there.

And just talking about this team makes one realize just how talented that team really was.